Becoming a Horse Person
Posted by Mikki on Nov 02 2006 at 05:20 pm | Tagged as: Horse Lifestyle
If you’ve followed this blog from the beginning, or skimmed over previous posts, you know that we moved to a small Tennessee town from the big city (Phoenix, Arizona) a year ago. Bill and I both grew up in small towns, but we had lived in cities for a very long time - 20 years for me. That’s long enough to become pretty “citified.” Now, I’m not your typical girl. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty, my hair and makeup are not always perfect, and I’m no Martha Stewart around the house. But we had pretty comfortable, civilized lives and our house was a pretty typical city house. But all that has changed.
It started with the acquisition of “barn shoes.” If you have a horse, you have to have barn shoes and barn clothes, because stuff is going to get on them that looks bad, smells bad and probably won’t ever come off.
The next thing you notice is the creeping invasion of “horse stuff” into your life and your house. A new halter will hang on a dining room chair until you remember to take it up to the tack room. Saddle blankets make it to your laundry room. Horse medicines sit out on your kitchen counter. A few weeks ago, I had a bit drying in my dish rack. You don’t notice it happening until it’s too late.
And then the decor you swore would never be seen in your house appears. I just had a birthday (29 again, of course), and a dear friend gave me the most wonderful gift:
Now, here’s my dilemma. This cool sign doesn’t fit with my current decor. I don’t have a big enough house to have a “horse room.” But I’m not sure the sign would survive the weather in the tack room. So, is a horse-and-pony bedroom set far behind?
Only time will tell. But we’re definitely becoming horse people. And I think that’s a good thing to be.
Great post. Yes, it’s amazing the clothing and barn stuff one gathers along with your horses!
I Gallop On is hosting a Barn Babe contest. (essentially, send me a photo of yourself in your best barn chore outfit.) Deadline November 15. Check it out. Sounds like this might be right up your alley these days! And the prize for the Best Barn Babe (readers will vote) is a nice sterling silver celtic horse pin from Dover Saddlery.
Pax. Kimberly at igallopon.com
Neat idea on the contest. I hesitated to go there for a second. Didn’t want Mikki seeing me look at bodacious barn babes in bikinis
. Glad to see the contestants are fully clothed.
I found your blog while searching for blogs on horses. We are also “first time owners” as adults anyway. I had a few horses growing up but I was never required to take care of them. That has all changed and I do have my kids helping take care of our friends. We went from one horse to four in less than a year and I wouldn’t change a thing. My husband thought we’d be living in a subdivision by this time last and instead we bought an older house with about 10 acres. I can so related to the horse apparatus creeping into your home, life, cars, everywhere….but I love it and am so glad at this point in my life I found something to be so passionate about along with my two wonderful daughters.
~tonya
That’s great Tonya. I think taking care of horses can be a great family activity. I wish our son was more into horses but hopefully his interest will grow.
I don’t think you’ll regret buying that much land, either. You can always build onto your “older” house but you can’t always buy more land.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to step in and comment about your experiences as a “first time” horse owner.